Promoting Youth Well-Being Through Health and Education: Insights and Opportunities

Life Skills June 24, 2019

Putting well-being at the heart of planning, policy making, and resource allocation is emerging as critical to the development of thriving communities and nations. We examined the academic and grey literature to identify theoretical frameworks that integrate health and education. We identified and described policies and programs supporting well-being around the world, and interviewed experts from each location to gain a deeper understanding of them.

The report found that although wellbeing frameworks that integrate education and health exist, few of them have been examined rigorously to reveal how both educational and health outcomes can be achieved together.

Authors

Wing Yi Chan

Behavioral/social scientist, RAND Corporation

Wing Yi Chan is a behavioral/social scientist at the RAND Corporation. She studies individual and systemic processes that support resilient individuals and communities. Specifically, she leads studies on prevention of problem behaviors and promotion of positive developmental trajectories in adolescents and young people who have experienced marginalization. She also conducts research to evaluate the effectiveness of school- and community-based prevention programs designed to promote resilience in vulnerable youth.

Jennifer Sloan

Policy analyst, RAND Corporation

Jennifer Sloan is a policy analyst at the RAND Corporation. She conducts research focused on understanding and promoting health equity in vulnerable populations, exploring issues of healthy food access, physical activity, the impact of community development on resident health and creating and promoting a culture of health. She also works on evaluations of school-based programming, including community gardens and early childhood development initiatives.

Anita Chandra

Anita Chandra

Vice president and director of RAND Social and Economic Well-Being; senior policy researcher, RAND Corporation

Anita Chandra is vice president and director of RAND Social and Economic Well-Being and a senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation. She leads studies on civic well-being and urban planning; community resilience and long-term disaster recovery; health policies to advance a culture of health; and child health and development. Chandra has engaged government and nongovernmental partners to consider cross-sector solutions for improving community well-being and to build more robust systems and evaluation capacity.

 

Research Organization

Qatar Foundation
Rand Corporation
WISE